If you want me to stay I'll stay
by Tavtav
Summary: some years after Buffy season 7 and Angel season 4. Buffy and Angel will finally get together the way i want them to but it will take them a long time with lots of drama.
1. the end

Disclaimer: apparently I need to say that I don't own these characters so, sorry Joss and that David guy, I'm just borrowing them for a while. But anyway you've given up on them now haven't you, you nasty bastards.....

This is my first posted story on fanfic so I hope you all like it, and please review it so I know if you like it and whether to write anymore!

Chapter 1

The rubble surrounded them, the building was a crumbling mess. Buffy and the gang began to slowly lift themselves off the floor and look around themselves.

'The portal's gone,' Buffy sighed with relief, body aching.

'Thank god,' said willow.

Buffy walked across the floor and under the archway which had once been a solid wall. Willow and Xander began to follow but stopped to help Giles up. Angel rose from the corner of the room and slowly shook the dust off his jacket, passing a bruised Faith on his way out towards Buffy.

'we should probably make sure it's closed for good,' said Willow, 'we don't want to be woken up by _that_ thing in the middle of the night.'

' yeah, whatever. You do that red,' replied Faith, stretching her arms above her head.

' willow's right you know, we don't want Big Bad to come back,' cautioned Spike.

Willow sat in the centre of the room, and began chanting. The room glowed for a moment and then stopped.

'we're good,' she said.

Buffy stood in the next room, staring at the ruins behind her. Angel came and draped his arms over her shoulders. He whispered comforting words into her ear. She turned around to face him, glad he had come to help with this one.

'It was probably a good thing you were in LA this week, I'm not sure I could have managed without you.'

'I'm always here whenever you need me. I'm only a phone call away.'

'But you're always in a different town, I never know where you are.'

'When you decide you want me to stay, I'll stay,' Angel replied in his soft cryptic way.

Buffy walked towards the opening in the wall, and stepped outside, glad to get rid of the dust clogging her lungs. Without thinking, Angel followed her.

They stood side by side, looking at the world around, so thankful that they had saved it yet again.

Suddenly Buffy noticed something was wrong. She turned to face Angel and realised what it was. Moving slowly towards him, she placed her hand on his chest.

The bright sunshine shone down on them as she felt the heart beating beneath her hand.

'Angel, you're alive,' she breathed.


	2. i dont believe you

Chapter 2

This was too much.

It had been a hectic couple of weeks, what with the latest Big Bad, but it had also been a hectic few years. After the hellmouth had disappeared, it had been from one town to the next for Buffy, dropping off slayers here and there, helping people settle down with their new-found power. Finally, after a couple of years of travel, she, Dawn, Faith, Xander and Giles had settled down in LA, the other ex-potentials scattered over America and the world.

Dawn was in college just outside of the city and came home every weekend. She had turned out to be a very powerful, strong-minded young woman. After all the heartache of her childhood, the early years of her adult life had been more productive and enjoyable than anything else. She had decided that helping people, whether they were new slayers or just confused kids, was for her, and was majoring in psychology so that she could help more people in the future.

Buffy and Faith had become a lot closer during their travels. Surprising themselves, they had managed to learn a lot from each other and somehow, by not being the only two slayers in the world, had grown together. At this point they were both working in their local Starbucks, which kept the rent together without being too time consuming.

Xander had got a job in a local construction company and was doing very well out of it, and Giles had found a small niche in the growing market of Witchcraft Literature and opened another shop, 'Magic Shelves'.

Angel had been in Cleveland with Willow and Kennedy, they had been monitoring the other hellmouth for activity from the First. Fortunately nothing much had happened yet so this last week when Buffy had called for help, Willow and Angel came, leaving Kennedy to fight for herself.

It was the first time that Buffy had seen Angel since their memorable conversation just before Sunnydale was destroyed, and it was hard for them both. They had fought this battle, side by side, and Angel had been kind, if distant.

Now, as Buffy stood in the strengthening sunlight with Angel's heart beating under her hand, she didn't know what to do.

'How can this be? How could you become human without a spell?' she asked accusingly.

' I was told it might happen. There was a prophecy that said the vampire with a soul would become human but there are lots of prophecies that never come true, you should know that.'

' This is so strange. I don't know what to say.'

'Last time you did.'

'Last time?' she said, confused.

' It doesn't matter.'

'Look Angel, this is just too much right now. I've had no sleep for the last two days and I can hardly believe what's going on. Tell me what's happening. I feel like there's something you're holding back about this. It's not normal for a vampire to suddenly become human, that's all I know. You are way too calm, what's wrong with you? '

She stood back from him, the exhaustion and confusion riddled over her face.

'Tell me what's going on.'

He took a step forward and kissed her slowly on the lips, softly at first but with growing urgency. At first she was reluctant but after a few moments she gave in and her arms crept up his back.

A crash from behind them broke the couple apart. Xander staggered out from behind a battered bit of brickwork, Willow closely following.

'What's going on guys?' he said, cheerily and upbeat as usual. He glanced around and saw Buffy looking at Angel oddly.

'Angel's alive,' Buffy replied in a very confused, distant voice.

'What?' said Willow.

'Jiminy Cricket , sending a hellbeast to a different dimension isn't enough for you for one day? Tell me Angel, why do you always have to be the centre of attention?'

' I love you too, Xander,' Angel jibed.

'Xander, why aren't you so shocked?' Buffy asked sharply.

'Well, we kinda knew this was gonna happen some day.'

'We?'

Willow looked shifty. 'I did too. When Angel found out he rang to ask us whether we thought he should tell you. I said no because I thought it would distract you.'

'I feel so betrayed,' Buffy said, in the same distant, semi-sarcastic tone as before. 'Faith, did you know about this?'

Faith sauntered out onto the grass. 'Know about what?'

'Angel becoming human?'

'Angel's human? What! When did this happen? Why did no one tell me about it? No one tells me about anything round here.'

'I'm starting to feel like that too.'

The group stood around Angel and Buffy, congratulating, speculating, while they stared into each other's eyes.

After some time, Buffy stood back from the little cluster of people and yawned.

'I'm exhausted, I think I'm gonna go crash. Willow can you stay at Xander's tonight, I think me and Angel need to have a chat,' she said, a quick sideways glance going between them.

'Sure, you guys should go, Buff, you look like you're gonna fall over. Come over to Xander's tomorrow morning though, 'k?' Faith replied quickly, giving Buffy a glance that she understood completely understood. It meant 'get out of here quickly, get with Angel and tell me about it tomorrow'.

'Yeah, you go, I don't mind staying at Xander's, as long as he'll have me.'

'Course I will, we can have a movie fest, the typical post-apocalypse comedy type though,' he said.

They said their goodbyes and then Buffy and Angel separated themselves from the rest of the group and walked the few blocks to Buffy's apartment. Not a word passed between them as they walked up three flights of stairs, side by side.

Eventually, they reached the door and Buffy fumbled for her keys, opening the door slowly. Walking into the room, they stood, facing each other, alone at last.


	3. alone at last

Heya all my readers, which is like 4 people. If there are more of you can you please review so I know how many, otherwise I'll stop writing due to lack of demand. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chap, it is an R rating though, and give me helpful suggestions.

Also evry1 should read 'Meet the family' by silvery stars because she has even less reviews than me! Also her story is amazing.

Chapter 3

Buffy walked into the centre of the room as Angel shut the door behind them. It was dark despite the warm sunshine outside, the blinds had not been opened, and the only light came from a small lamp that created a soft glow to their surroundings.

They stood for a while, watching each other, waiting to see who would make the first move. There was silence in the room, the only noises that could be heard were from the early morning traffic of commuters rushing to work. Suddenly a police siren cut through the bustle of noise.

It was like a signal to the two people facing each other in the room. They walked towards each other, lips touching, and began kissing fervently. There was urgency in their movements, hands groping and lips devouring, neither could feel any emotion except need, and wanting.

Buffy's hands pushed at Angel's coat, forcing it off his shoulders and onto the floor. His hands slid up her back, under her top, lifting it over her head, caressing her as he slowly undressed her. Mouths locked, they sank to the floor slowly, pushing hard against each other. Passion and animal feeling ruled them, neither had a thought in their head.

They made love five times on the floor, their bodies writhing rhythmically on the wooden boards, and then four more times on the couch, before they moved to the bedroom. There they lay on Buffy's bed, worshipping each other with fingers and tongues until late into the following night.

Through the blackness, Buffy felt something dragging her back to consciousness. She looked up sleepily to see Angel staring down at her, smiling fondly.

'We should talk, its nearly morning,' he said, softly.

'I'm too sleepy to talk,' she said, rubbing her eyes.

He pressed his lips firmly onto hers. She slowly wriggled out of her curled up position and placed her arms around his neck.

'Seriously though, we really need to talk,' he said pulling away gently. 'We shouldn't just start up a relationship again, its been almost ten years since we were actually going out. I love you Buffy, I'm just not sure if we should just jump into this straight away.'

'Why d'you have to go spoil everything like usual. You're right though, we do need to think about this, I love you too but you have a job in Cleveland now, you can't just abandon everything for me.'

'Exactly. There are a few things that I've always known I wanted to do when I became human, things back in Europe, I need to sort my life out, now that I have one.'

They both sat back, thoughtfully. After a few minutes Buffy pulled herself up into a sitting position so that the sheets fell away from her naked form.

'Remember that conversation we had, right before Sunnydale was destroyed? The one where I said that I wasn't cookies yet, that I was cookie dough but I wasn't quite baked yet?'

'Yes I remember, it was a cute analogy, slightly odd,' replied Angel, smiling.

Buffy's face straightened, her voice became serious, 'I'm not sure that I'm baked yet, still. I said it would be a long time coming, I think I was right because I feel almost ready now, just not quite yet. I want you to stay so badly, but for now it might be better if you just go and do the things you need to do. Maybe when you get back, I'll be done. I love you so much, but I've had such bad problems with guys, including you, in the past and this is one that I want to be right, and at the right time. I want you to come back, but I need just a little bit more time to sort myself out, before being with you.'

'I understand. It's so sudden and I'm not sure what to do with myself quite yet anyway. But remember Buffy, if one day you _do_ want me to stay, I'll stay. I'll be ready when you are. I love you more than I have ever loved anything, I will always come back for you.'

'I know,' she replied, 'that's why I'm asking you to do this for me, and for you. I know you'll come back, just make sure it's not too long, Ok?'

'Ok', he said, and she snuggled up to him. 'so when are you going to leave?' she asked.

'Soon. I should go now before being with you makes me want to stay and I forget about everything else.'

'I don't want you to go..' she said sadly, 'but you're right. You should catch an early morning flight out of LA.'

Angel slid to the bottom of the bed.

'No last good bye?' Buffy said, sticking out her lip.

'You've had enough good byes for one night, haven't you? Plus, aren't I supposed to be leaving now?'

'Yeah, yeah,' she said as he gathered up his clothes from around the apartment and began putting them on. When fully clothed, he walked back to her and kissed her gently on the lips,

'Good bye,' he said softly, and walked over to the door. He turned back and gazed at her for a minute before leaving the apartment, slowly shutting the door after himself.

Buffy sat for a long while, staring at the space in front of the door where Angel had last stood, her small figure wrapped in the large sheet, her expression sad and lost.


End file.
